Washboard.



' M. A. MORSE.

WASHBOARD.

APPLIGATION FILED 001'. 20, 1 911.

- Patented Nmi. 5, 1912.

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wmvtsses 5? .lowing is a full, clear, and exact descrip-' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MARTHA A. MORSE, or NEW YORK, N. Y.

WASI-IBOARD.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed. October 20, 1911. Serial No. 655,739.

To all whom it may concern:

Be, it known that I, MARTHA A. MORSE, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of New York, (borough of Brooklyn,) injthe county of Kings and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved \Vashboard, of which the foltion.

My invention relates to washboards, and the object thereof is to provide a construction of this sort having improved means for retaining the soap or other cleanlng agent that may be used, in convenient position, with a view to its ready applicatlon by the user to the cloth n hich is bein rubbed upon the'board for the purpose 0 cleaning the same.

To this end it comprises a washboard having the usual corrugated portion surmount-- ed by a section of.any suitable 'mater1al, which is provided with a plural ty of pockets in which the soap or other c1ean ing agent is placed. The'pockets or the l ke each hold a given quantity of the clean ng agent, and they are arranged across the top portion of the board, so that the user can apply the soap to the cloth in the course of the o eration of washing, by merely raislng the 0 0th above the corrugated portion of the washboard and rubbing it once or twice over the soap-holding section at'the top of the board, with the result that whenthe cloth is passed over the soap-holdlng section in this way, as much soap 1s taken up by the folds of the cloth as they pass across the pockets asis required by the partlculargarment that is being washed out.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, in which the same characters of reference indicate the same parts in all the views.

Figure 1 represents a perspective View of my improved washboard; Flg. 2 represents a vertical longitudinal section therethrough; and Fig. 3 represents a detail view of a modification.

On the drawings the numeral 1 represents the sides'orlegs of the washboard frame, which are united at the top and adjacent thebottom by transverse strips 3 and 4.- Pivoted to the top of the board is a guard 5, this guard normally projectlng forward when the board is in use, to prevent soap and water from being splashed against the user.--

The frame of the board is filled with a body or web 6, which serves as a support or brace for the sheet of zinc or other suitable metal in which are stamped corrugations 7, against which the clothes or other garments are rubbed. The corrugated portion may have transverse corrugations stamped therein of any ordinary shape, and this corrugated portion' is surmounted by means of a section 8 having a number of transverse rows of projections 9. The section 8 may have the projections 9 stamped therefrom, and the top of these projections are depresse'ds'lightly so as to form pockets, as shown particularly in Fig. 2, these pockets eachreceiving a small quantity of soap 10. In the form shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the corrugated portion 7 and the upper section 8' are shown as beingl stamped out .of-a single sheet of metal, but it is obvious desired, or that I-may even employ wood or some other material for the section 8, so

lon as this section .is formed with the.

poo ets shownatTQ, as described.-

The edges of the pockets 9 will of course be rounded off so that they will not tear the folds of the cloth that come'in contact with the same; and the pockets themselves may be filled with soap avings, or'they may be loaded y simplyrubbing a'bar of soap across them, in which operation theedges of each of the-,projeetions '9 inwhich the pockets are formed will peel ,ofi as much soap as their capacity. permits.

The utility'of my improved washboard will now be apparent. When clothes are to be washed the" pockets are filled with'soap in the manner above described, and whenever soap is to be applied to thegarment that is being 'rubbedfon the corrugated portions 7, the operator merely raises the wet folds of clothhigh enough-to enable them to be rubbed .once or twice "across-the face of. the section 8; In passing across the section 8 the 010th Will'wipe 01f as much-of the cleaning agent in the pockets 9 as cons ditions require,.and the 'result'is that the operation of washing can be carried through with thesaying of a great deal of thelabo'r that must be" expended when using wash boards fo nary construction. v

In practice, I have found it is very often unnecessary after the section 8 has once been wip'ed over with a wet garment for the purpose of soaping the same, to rub the folds of the garments that are subsequently washed, overthe face of the section.

8. This is because, when the surface of the board 8 has once been made wet, the water dissolves some of the soap in the pockets 9 and causes it. to flow down upon the corrugated portion 7. As a result, the soap vor other cleaning agent is applied to the garment that is being washed on this part of the board while the garment is being. rubbed over the corrugations, and is automatically distributed over the cloth during the rubbing process.

Fig'. 3 represents a modification in which the pockets are depressed inward from the front face of the board 8 instead of outward, as shown in the other views, but the principle and purpose of this construction are the same.

In both forms of'board shown on the drawings, I make the sheet of zinc or other suitable metal having the corrugations, and the ,projections or depressions formed thereon over the portion not occupied by the corrugatio'ns, in a single piece to form the face of the washboard. In making this piece the die is so formed as to stamp the sheet of metal so as to give it its final shape in one operation; that is to say, the corrugations and the projections or depressions are stamped therein simultaneously, and when the sheet is removed from the machine it is ready to be applied to the board at'once.

In practice I may make the section 8 slightly concave, but I prefer the .form

shown in the figures wherein it is made fiat.

of the parts fairly fall within the scone and spirit of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Let ters Patent:

An improved washboard having a plurality of pockets formed on the front face of the same above the corrugations against wvhich the article to be washed is rubbed,

the edges of said pockets being acute to enable them to engage a bar of soap and shave off particles therefrom when the soap is rubbed over the edges of said pockets, whereby the said pockets may be filled with said particles, the said edges being blunted to a sufficientextent to enable them to avoid tearing the article to be washed when the same is rubbed over the pockets to apply the soap to the same.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

v I MARTHA A. MORSE. Witnesses:

CHARLES F. Monsn, LOUIS T. MORSE. 

